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Wednesday, 30 January 2013

NSW Moorebank proposed as an Intermodal Site?

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NSW Moorebank proposed as an Intermodal Site?

from: liverpool-leader
DEVELOPMENT of the controversial Moorebank intermodal terminal is progressing despite continuing opposition from residents.

The privately-owned SIMTA proposal is on public exhibition.1650 full time jobs during construction of the port shuttle terminal and a further 975 jobs during construction of the interstate terminal, with 1700 ongoing jobs in the region once the facility and associated warehouses are open.

It includes the construction of a $490 million freight terminal on
the west side of Moorebank Ave, affecting Wattle Grove and Holsworthy
residents.

If approved, the site will hold up to one million containers a year,
include the development of a train line to connect with existing freight
lines, 300,000sq m of warehouse buildings and a freight village.
After reading the proposal, resident Allan Corben told the Leader the facility could be built just 400m from residents’ homes.

“The SIMTA proposal continues to be what it was day one and that is nothing but rubbish,” Mr Corben said.
The report also states stage three will take 10-12 years to complete.
The development is yet to be approved by the federal government,
which wants to build its own intermodal terminal on the opposite side of
the road.

BACKGROUND
The use of the 220 hectare Defence site at Moorebank (site and location
diagrams attached within the planning proposal, see 'Documents') for a
future intermodal freight terminal (IMT) within Sydney was first
announced by the Commonwealth Government in 2004. The site is currently
owned and occupied by the Department of Defence’s School of Military
Engineering (SME).
On 11 May 2010, the Commonwealth Government announced $70.7 million of
funding in its 2010-2011 Budget to complete the detailed planning and
approval of the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal (MIT) and the relocation
of the School of Military Engineering and other defence units to
Holsworthy.It also announced an intention that staged redevelopment of
the site is expected to commence in 2013, subject to securing necessary
approvals. The Department has received a request from the applicant, i.e. the
Commonwealth Department of Defence and Deregulation, to amend the zoning
of the subject site to facilitate the development of the intermodal
terminal facilities and associated commercial and warehousing
development on the SME site.

Why was Moorebank proposed as an Intermodal Site?

The South West and North West subregions of Sydney are
experiencing high rates of growth in industrial lands, primarily centred
along the M7 and M5 Motorways. The Central West subregion is already a
significant industrial powerhouse. and is located adjacent to the main
railway line to Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide and Port Botany.

The current level of containers into Port Botany in 2005 was
approximately 1.3million Twenty foot Equivalent Units (TEU's). This is
expected to grow to 2.9million TEU's by 2021.
If the current proportion
of container movements by road and rail is maintained by 2021 2.7million
TEU's will need to be transported by road; a volume that far exceeds
the road networks capacity. If 40% of all containers are moved by rail
in 2021 (the Governments target) around 1.7 million TEU's will be moved
by roads.
Given the congestion on the M5, and lack of a high quality road
connection to the M4 from the Port, railing these 40% or more of the
containers would lead to less congestion on arterial roads in these
regions.

The proposed intermodal terminal at Leumeah, and the existing
intermodal terminal at Minto would have a combined capacity of 254,000
"twenty foot equivalent units" of containers, which would not be
sufficient to meet the needs of the South West region, therefore
another site centrally located and within close proximity to the road
and rail networks was needed. Given the urban area in the South West
along the railway corridor is already highly urbanised, large
sites are rare.
This means that the two proposed and one currently under
construction major intermodal terminal sites will be able to move the
majority of the container freight requirements:

Enfield - maximum 300,000 TEU's/year (under construction)

Moorebank - 1,000,000 TEU's/year

Eastern Creek - unknown but would be expected to be around 1,000,000TEU's/year or greater.

Moorebank Intermodal Freight Terminal

The Australian Government is facilitating the delivery of a major
intermodal facility at Moorebank to provide a rail ‘port shuttle’
between Port Botany and the south west of Sydney, as well as warehousing
and a separate terminal for interstate freight.
The port shuttle terminal, expected to commence operations from 2017,
will have capacity for 1.2 million containers, vastly improving
efficiency and productivity while relieving congestion on Sydney’s
roads. Additional capacity for 500,000 containers will become available
at a later stage when the interstate freight terminal commences
operation.

The project will boost productivity and improve transport links in
Australia’s biggest city. It will enable freight travelling through
Sydney to and from Port Botany to use rail instead of the road network,
providing cheaper and more efficient freight and relief for commuters
stuck in traffic. The project will also provide a jobs boost for south
western Sydney.

The interstate terminal will take pressure off rural and regional
roads and build on the Australian Government’s $4.8 billion investment
in the interstate rail network. Together these investments help make
rail freight a real competitor to road freight and benefit everyone in
the national supply chain who needs to move goods.

The Australian Government will fund the relocation of the Moorebank
Defence Units to make available a 220 hectare site for the project – to
provide for the intermodal terminal facilities required now and into the
future.

A Government Business Enterprise will also be established to launch
the project and optimise private sector involvement. The private sector
will design, build and operate the site as an intermodal terminal.
Private sector partners will be selected through competitive tender
processes.
The total benefits of the project have been estimated at $10 billion. These include:

Taking 3300 trucks off Sydney’s roads every day from 2020,
relieving widespread traffic congestion associated with freight
movements to and from Port Botany.

Faster freight transport and reduced costs to business.

Reduced fuel use and diesel emissions.

1650 full time jobs during construction of the port shuttle
terminal and a further 975 jobs during construction of the interstate
terminal, with 1700 ongoing jobs in the region once the facility and
associated warehouses are open.

This investment demonstrates the Australian Government‘s
determination to invest in strategic infrastructure. Projects like
Moorebank link Australia’s freight networks and our ports, drive
productivity, improve our logistics industries, and create long term
efficiencies that will benefit our cities and our economy into the
future.
Further details of the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal project can be found on the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal Project website.